In processing a substrate, for example, but not limited by, for organic light emitting device (OLED) displays used in various cell phone and smart phone technologies, as well as for larger displays used for monitors and TV screens, various manufacturing steps for fabrication of such display technologies are used. In that regard, process development requires flexibility to support testing of what can be numerous variable in a process conditions in order to define specifications for any manufacturing process step in an overall manufacturing process.
For example, various materials can be deposited on an OLED substrate, in which the materials are dissolved or suspended in a carrier liquid that can include one or more solvents. A substrate may subsequently undergo processing involving thermal treatment, such as drying, baking or a combination thereof. Such thermal treatment steps may be done to drive off a carrier liquid, as well as to induce a physical or chemical change in the material in order to form a film having various desired properties. Given the critical nature of drying and baking steps on film formation, various embodiments of thermal treatment modules of the present teachings for carrying out drying and baking can be used as a process development tool, and additionally for production.
In that regard, various drying and baking modules of the present teachings are capable of supporting process development, as various embodiments of drying and baking modules of the present teachings have the flexibility to test a variety of parameters related to any process step. Then in production, a drying and baking module of the present teachings can use a single process determined during process development for a drying or baking step. By way of an example, a tool providing for both condensation plate cooling and substrate heating may provide the flexibility for process development, whereas for a production tool, it may be desirable to utilize either condensation plate cooling or substrate heating. In another example, the selection of process environment for a process development module may include greater flexibility for testing various process environments than for a production tool. For example, with respect to process environment, a process development module may have the capability to have an inert gas environment for some process steps, and other gas environments for other process steps. Then, for a production tool, the process gas environment would be an environment as determined by process development for that process step.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for manufacturing tools for drying and baking of a substrate that can be easily adaptable between the flexibility needed for process development, as well as the specific needs of any process step in a manufacturing tool.
In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present document.